Programme outline (Theoretical Courses)

The Cancer Genomics and Developmental Biology Programme organizes theoretical courses on specific subjects relevant to the main research topics of the participating groups. The courses have a modular structure and may be taken in any combination by master students of this and other Biomedical Science Programmes.

The duration of a theoretical course is 1 week. The courses are thematically grouped in five broad subject fields: Signal transduction and cancer, Developmental biology, Genetics and genomics, Technology of genomics, proteomics, and bio-informatics, and Cell biology, physiology, and pathology. All master students of the programme are required to take at least one course from each of these theme groups. In total, 10 weeks of theoretical courses have to be taken by each student. Courses focus on particular aspects of Cancer Genomics and Developmental Biology.

The course programme usually consists of seminars by leading scientists in the field of the course subject. Papers by these scientists are studied prior to their lectures, and ample time is reserved for discussions of their results afterwards. In this way, each theoretical course aims to provide the students with an overview of a well-defined field of research. The course offers insight into the current state -of -the -art in a particular field, including the latest results, the biggest challenges, recent technical advances, and ultimate goals. In addition, the relevance of the research in that area for society as a whole, and its clinical implications in particular are emphasised.

The format, along with the fact that the courses are scattered over the academic year, will allow practical work in the framework of Minor or Major Research Projects to continue at a background level, e.g. maintenance of cell lines or finishing (preparing) of previous (future) experiments.

Click here to view the Course Calendar.